Rochester Delis Chocolate Dipped Almond Macaroons Recipes

CHOCOLATE ALMOND MACAROONS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place eggs in the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until egg whites are stiff. Then add sugar slowly, and continue beating until egg whites are very thick, about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Beat in cocoa until combined. Stir in almonds, and mix until completely blended. The batter should be quite thick and sticky.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment. Dampen hands, and shape about 1 heaping teaspoonful of dough into a 1-inch ball. Pinch the ball with your fingers to form a teardrop shape, and place on prepared baking sheet. Continue process, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart, until all the dough is used.
• Bake until cookies are slightly cracked, 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool on sheet for several minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
• Combine shortening and melted chocolate. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate onto the flat side of a cooled cookie, and place another cookie on top. Press together gently so chocolate oozes out slightly. Return cookie to rack, and let chocolate harden. Repeat process with remaining cookies.

CHOCOLATE-FILLED ALMOND MACAROONS RECIPE

Steps:

• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together almond paste and sugar on medium-high until almond paste breaks down and mixture is well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add almond extract and salt; beat until well combined.
• With the mixer running, add egg whites, 1 teaspoon at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. The batter should be smooth and thick enough to pipe.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a No. 4 (1/2-inch) pastry tip. Holding pastry tip about 3/4 inch above the parchment paper on prepared baking sheet, pipe a quarter-size round of batter onto parchment paper. Lift the bag off the batter a slight sideways jerking motion of your hand, producing a flat, rather than pointy, top on the cookie. Continue piping cookies about 1 inch apart, trying to finish with as small a peak as possible to leave tops rounded and smooth. Wet a finger with warm water to smooth out any remaining peaked tops; sprinkle generously with sugar. Let stand at room temperature 15 to 20 minutes so that a thin, crisp crust develops on outside of each cookie.
• Transfer baking sheets to oven and bake, rotating baking sheets top to bottom and back to front two-thirds through, until set but not browned and still gooey in the centers, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack; let cookies cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.
• To fill cookies, place 1 teaspoon ganache on the bottom of one cookie, sandwich with the flat side of a second cookie. Repeat process with remaining ganache and cookies.

CHOCOLATE-ALMOND MACAROONS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Finely grind the almonds, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a food processor.
• Separate one of the eggs and add the white, the other egg, and almond extract and process until the mixture holds together. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the chocolate.
• Moisten hands and roll mixture into 1-inch balls. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Flatten to 1/3-inch thick rounds.
• Bake until tops puff and centers are still soft, about 12 minutes. Remove to a rack and cool completely. Replace parchment paper for next round of cookies.